When Kate Middleton Becomes Queen, Will Her Sister Pippa Middleton Get a Royal Title of Her Own?
Poignantly, the Princess of Wales chose to bring her younger sister to Wimbledon last month — which marked only her second public appearance of 2024

Pippa Middleton in King’s Lynn, England in 2013

Kate Middleton’s younger sister Pippa Middleton has long been known to be one of the Princess of Wales’ closest confidantes, but could she one day have a royal title of her own?

Pippa burst onto the global scene in 2011, when she famously served as her sister’s maid of honor at Kate’s April 29 wedding to Prince William.

As recently as last month, Pippa joined both her sister, Kate, and her niece, Princess Charlotte, at Wimbledon on July 14, marking Princess Kate’s second public appearance of 2024. (Her first was the month prior when she joined the rest of the royal family at June 15’s Trooping the Colour.)

Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and her sister Pippa Middleton talk in the Royal Box on day 13 of the 2012 Wimbledon Championships tennis tournament.
Kate Middleton and her sister Pippa Middleton at Wimbledon in 2012.

Pippa Middleton Joins Sister Kate Middleton and Niece Princess Charlotte for Surprise Wimbledon Appearance
As the Princess of Wales continues to receive treatment for cancer, Pippa, along with her parents Michael and Carole Middleton and their younger brother James, have served as Kate’s support system. A source previously told PEOPLE that in addition to her husband Prince William, Kate’s parents, Carole and Michael, “will be there to lend support.”
While Queen Camilla’s own sister Annabel Elliot isn’t one of her designated “companions” — the more modern term for “lady-in-waiting” adopted by the former Duchess of Cornwall when she became Queen, according to the BBC — Elliot did serve as one of the royal’s two ladies in attendance at her coronation alongside husband King Charles in May 2023.

When Kate becomes queen someday, will Pippa become one of Kate’s companions? It remains to be seen, but, according to Hello!, “it would be unprecedented for Pippa to receive a title simply because her sister is queen consort” — but, like Elliot, a role like a lady-in-attendance or companion could be in Pippa’s future.

ueen Camilla, Keira Knightley, Annabel Elliot and James Righton attend day ten of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships
Queen Camilla and her sister, Annebel Elliot, at Wimbledon on July 10, 2014.

“I think traditionally, we might expect Catherine to appoint her sister Pippa, because Catherine is so famously close to her family,” said royal historian Kate Williams on True Royalty TV’s The Royal Beat: Back in Time (per InStyle). “She doesn’t have companions because she’s so close to her mother and her sister. I think we might possibly expect that Pippa might be someone she might appoint.”

Of the possibility, Ailsa Anderson, a former communications secretary to Queen Elizabeth, said, “It’s actually quite nice to have somebody who you’ve known and trusted to be by your side in those big events because when you’ve always got to be on show.”

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Maid of honour Philippa Middleton
Pippa Middleton at the wedding of Kate Middleton and Prince William on April 29, 2011.

Williams is confident that Princess Kate will one day have her own companions as Queen Camilla does because “the job of a monarch and a consort isn’t getting any smaller,” she said. “The letters, the correspondence, the emails are growing every day.” Williams added that “when Catherine becomes queen, the levels of tours, the levels of letters, the level of receptions, will still require this assistance. So I think she will have to appoint some ladies-in-waiting.”

When Queen Camilla modernized the traditional “ladies-in-waiting” concept to her companions back in 2022, she chose six women assistants that are “less regularly in attendance than the previous role required,” according to the BBC. The honorary positions involve helping Camilla at public events, but “unlike the ladies-in-waiting, this slimmed-down role will not involve correspondence or administration,” the outlet reported.

Queen Camilla’s companions are “a more occasional and informal position,” supporting her at official engagements and “not involved in replying to letters or day-to-day planning,” according to the BBC. “They don’t receive a salary, but their expenses will be covered.”

Even if offered the chance to be a companion to her older sister, it’s unclear if Pippa — who married James Matthews in 2017 and shares three children with him — would even accept the role: “Pippa has her own life — three children, and a busy life of her own,” Williams said. “It’s a fascinating question.”

Pippa Middleton Makes First Public Appearance Since Sister Kate Middleton’s Cancer Diagnosis with Wimbledon Outing

Pippa Middleton arrives on day twelve of the 2024 Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London. Picture date: Friday July 12, 2024.

Pippa Middleton at Wimbledon on July 12, 2024.
Companion or not, there is a title Pippa will definitely inherit, according to Hello!, but it has nothing to do with Kate or the rest of the royal family. Pippa’s husband is reportedly set to inherit his father David Matthews’ title as Laird of Glen Affric — and, as such, Pippa will one day become Lady of Glen Affric.